Carrier-based fighter pilots often refer to the ocean as the “drink,” which makes it a lot easier to deal with the sometimes hairy conditions of trying to land an aircraft on a carrier that’s pitching back and forth in the ocean.

One Fighter Pilot nearly did the same thing, although Matt Hall wasn’t in a fighter, or near the ocean. Instead, this ex-Royal Australian Air Force yoke-puller was trying to put in a hot qualifying time at the Red Bull Air Races in Windsor, Canada.

Checkout the video below:

For safety reasons these aerobatics novels are done over water, with inflatable pylons and obstacles for the pilots to maneuver around in high-powered, tiny planes at speeds of up to 250 miles per hour. That’s a good thing, too, because Hall went into a stall right at sea level, and his tail boom got a bit of a soaking.

We’re true thrill seekers, and I understand completely why even though he’s not in a fighter anymore in one of his beloved F-15s or F-18s, he still wants to take a plane and make it stand on its tail and race through any course he can find.

Even though he’s fine, it reminds me that pilots with years of training can still have close calls. Hall had 18 years between the two craft and still told newspapers that he was a foot above completely destroying his plane.

Any air races that you can get to will give you a decent portrait of the aerobatics you may be working on in the early stages of your training before you transition to the plane you’ll eventually pilot for one of the military branches. But Hall proves that tolerances are tight when you push it to the limit.

Planes aren’t the only vehicles that tend to reward a momentary mistake with a crash.

Have you ever had a close call in a car or plane? How did you keep from hurting yourself or others?